On burning earth

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Movie
German title On burning earth
Original title The Burning Plain
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2008
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Guillermo Arriaga
script Guillermo Arriaga
production Laurie MacDonald
Walter F. Parkes
Charlize Theron
music Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Hans Zimmer
camera Robert Elswit
cut Craig Wood
occupation

The Burning Plain one is American film drama from the year 2008 . The screenwriter was Guillermo Arriaga , who made his debut here as a director of a feature film .

action

The plot of the film is not told chronologically, but - as is often the case with Arriaga's films - nested and told with numerous flashbacks. For the sake of simplicity, the plot is shown here chronologically.

The story begins in the mid-1990s in a small New Mexico town near the Mexican border. The married Gina - mother of four children - has an affair with Nick Martinez, who is also married. When Gina's daughter Mariana finds out that her mother is having an affair, she follows her to the trailer where she meets Nick. To get the two of them to end the relationship, she disconnects the trailer's gas pipe and sets it on fire. But when the flames reach the gas tank, they cause a huge explosion and Gina and Nick die in the trailer. After the funeral, Mariana begins a relationship with Nick's son Santiago and soon becomes pregnant. The two flee to Mexico because their families reject the relationship. There Mariana gives birth to her daughter, but leaves her after two days.

Twelve years later, Mariana - who has since taken the name Sylvia - works in a fine restaurant in Oregon . Despite her professional success, she often has suicidal thoughts. After Santiago was seriously injured in a plane crash, a certain Carlos searches for Sylvia with Santiago's and Sylvia's daughter Maria at Santiago's request. After initially blocking contact completely, Sylvia visits them again and travels with them to Santiago, who is in a coma. At the bedside, she confesses to him that she is to blame for the deaths of Gina and Nick. She asks her daughter for forgiveness, and Santiago is on the mend - so the film ends hopefully.

Reviews

Derek Elley wrote in Variety on August 29, 2008, the film had many weaknesses and few strengths. The representations are acceptable to good ( “OK-to-good” ). The script is not particularly bad - if directed correctly, Arriaga's “spaghetti structures” would work. In this case, the audience would have to spend too much time classifying the events shown correctly.

Scott Weinberg wrote in Variety on July 13, 2007 that the information available at the time sounded as if the film was a sure Oscar candidate ( "Sounds like surefire Oscar bait to me" ).

Frank Olbert wrote in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on August 31, 2008 that the director observed the film characters with nonchalance and "incomparably confident dramaturgy". Like 21 Gramm and Babel, the film tells "of family life and its trauma" - in this film it is an inheritance with a "finally fatal" and a "heartbreakingly hopeful" face. The character of Sylvia, played by Charlize Theron, fights "her frustrations through sexual abandonment". The figure of her mother brings "her family to the brink".

Awards

The then 18-year-old American Jennifer Lawrence received the Marcello Mastroianni Prize of the film festival for best young actress for her portrait of Mariana at the 65th Venice Film Festival in 2008 .

backgrounds

The film was shot in Depoe Bay ( Oregon ), Portland (Oregon) and Las Cruces ( New Mexico ) in November and December 2007. Its production amounted to an estimated 20 million US dollars . Production was carried out by 2929 Productions , which was founded in 2005 to produce independent films.

Originally a world premiere was planned for the 2008 Cannes International Film Festival ; however, the film was not completed on time. At the Cannes Film Market trade fair on the fringes of the festival , the distribution rights were sold in some countries, including France and Italy .

The world premiere took place on August 29, 2008 at the 65th Venice International Film Festival , at which the film was one of the five US competition entries. On September 5, 2008, the film was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b IMDB
  2. ↑ Release certificate for On Burning Earth . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , May 2011 (PDF; test number: 127 721 K).
  3. ^ Film review by Derek Elley ( Memento September 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed September 6, 2008
  4. ^ Film review by Frank Olbert ( Memento from September 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 7, 2008
  5. ↑ cf. Venezia 65: premio Marcello Mastroianni a Jennifer Lawrence at lastampa.it, September 6, 2008
  6. ^ Filming locations for The Burning Plain , accessed August 7, 2008
  7. ^ Box office / business for The Burning Plain , accessed August 7, 2008
  8. ↑ www.2929productions.com , accessed August 7, 2008
  9. ↑ Cannes: Market Watch ( Memento of May 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) of May 21, 2008 on variety.com, accessed on August 7, 2008
  10. ↑ a b Venice Film Fest 2008: World Premiere of Arriaga's Debut Burning Plain by Emanuel Levy at www.emanuellevy.com, accessed August 7, 2008
  11. ↑ Release dates for The Burning Plain , accessed September 6, 2008
  12. ↑ Christian Petzold shows new film in Venice in Der Spiegel on July 29, 2008, accessed on August 7, 2008
  13. ↑ Venice Film Festival unveils lineup ( August 8, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive ) in The Hollywood Reporter July 29, 2008, accessed August 7, 2008